N.H. Roll Call

Friday

May 12, 2017 at 12:37 PMMay 12, 2017 at 12:37 PM

Recent legislative action includes:

Evidence admissibility in sexual assault

Senate Bill 9, "relative to the admissibility of proffered evidence in sexual assault cases," establishes a procedure to determine the admissibility of evidence in cases involving sexual assault. The Senate had unanimously passed the bill in February. The House held a public hearing and studied the legislation, and has finalized action.

The House Judiciary Committee voted 11 to 4 recommending passage. The majority reported, "The purpose of rape shield legislation is to encourage victims of sexual assault to report the crimes perpetrated against them without fear that their prior alleged sexual history will be aired in open court.

"This bill does not affect the due process rights of any defendant, nor does it keep a defense attorney from asking a judge to admit evidence that is ruled admissible."

Recommending that the bill be killed, the minority wrote, "We have a duty to protect the rights of both the defendant and the victim in a sexual assault case; the former has the right to offer proofs of innocence and the latter the right to privacy in matters unrelated to the case.

"The minority believes that the courts have proper protections in place through rules and precedent, and coupled with the first point in this bill strikes the right balance, protecting victims and those presumed innocent."

The House voted 328 to 30 in favor of passage. "Yes" supported the bill, "no" opposed:

House Bill 430, "relative to recording voters' out-of-state drivers' licenses," requires that information on the use of out-of-state drivers' licenses and non-drivers' identification cards be recorded in the statewide centralized voter registration database.

The Senate voted 14 to 9 along political party lines in favor of passage. Supporting it were Sens. Bradley, Gannon, Gray, Innis and Reagan. Opposed were Sens. Fuller Clark and Watters.

In the House, the Election Law Committee voted 11 to 9 recommending passage. Representing the majority of the committee and urging passage, Rep. Harrington of Strafford reported, “Currently, if a person shows an out-of-state license as proof of identity when voting, that information is recorded on the voter checklist and totals for the number of driver’s licenses from each state are reported to the secretary of state within 30 days of an election.

"This bill will require supervisors of the checklist to enter that data into Election Net – the statewide voter registration database so that the information will be stored with the individual person’s voting record."

Recommending the bill’s defeat, the minority of the committee wrote, “The minority believes this legislation is unnecessary, irrelevant and creates an expensive and time consuming process for local election officials and the secretary of state.

"This information adds nothing to the record of the election and requires election officials to sort out data, involving many pages of information, currently reported to the secretary of state in gross.”

The House passed the bill 187 to 160. “Yes” favored passage, “no” did not:

One Democrat joined 186 Republicans to pass the bill, while one Republican and one Libertarian joined 158 Democrats opposed to passage. The bill is awaiting signature by Gov. Sununu.

Vaccines administered by pharmacists

Senate Bill 65, "relative to vaccines administered by pharmacists," is sponsored by Sen. Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, and several other legislators. The bill adds certain vaccines to the law which allows licensed pharmacists to administer vaccines. The Senate unanimously passed the bill, and the House Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee voted 14 to 7 endorsing the legislation.

The majority reported, "In the past, pharmacists lightened the load of family practice physicians and have provided a convenience to patients by administering flu shots.

"This bill expands the number of vaccines our now better-educated pharmacists can administer. This action will help the work load of primary care physician offices and further provide a convenience to patients."

Suggesting the bill be killed, the minority wrote, "Although the minority supports vaccinations as part of public health policy, it is unclear if this is the best way to attain this goal. As medical care moves toward a model that attempts to centralize a patient’s care in order to improve outcomes and save health care dollars, this bill allows for more splintered care. Finally, although pharmacists are clearly qualified, we heard comments that pharmacists are overworked and asking them to take on this important function in a hurried fashion is ill advised."

The House voted 281 to 76 to pass the legislation. "Yes" is a vote for passage, "no" opposed:

Senate Bill 131, "establishing a cross border drug interdiction program and making an appropriation therefor," is sponsored by Sens. Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro; Martha Fuller Clark, D-Portsmouth; William Gannon, R-Sandown; James Gray, R-Rochester; Daniel Innis, R-New Castle; and David Watters, D-Dover. It establishes cross border drug interdiction program in the Department of Safety and makes appropriations for the purposes of the program.

A "statement of purpose" was written as part of the bill, saying "The purpose of this act is to allow the N.H. State Police to expand its operations in the area of interdicting all crimes and hazards being conveyed upon the roadways of the state, to include stemming the flow of heroin and fentanyl into our communities.

"This will be accomplished by permanently assigning additional troopers to the N.H. State Police Mobile Enforcement Team Initiative whose primary mission is to work with other law enforcement partners in a cooperative, intelligence-based effort to disrupt drug trafficking and combat the opioid epidemic."

The Senate approved the bill 22 to 1, with only Sen. John Reagan, R-Deerfield, opposed. In the House, the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee voted 15 to 3 recommending passage.

Representing the committee, Rep. Pantelakos of Portsmouth wrote that the legislation "authorizes the hiring of five state troopers to be trained for the program and includes additional funding for the forensic lab and funding for overtime for the state forensic lab, the state police mobile enforcement unit and narcotics and investigations unit."

Representing the minority of the committee in opposition to passage, Rep. Scott Wallace of Danville wrote, "This well-intended bill looks to take $2.1 million from an already strapped operational budget. This additional expenditure is not fiscally prudent at this time."

The House approved the bill 252 to 108. "Yes" supported the legislation, "no" opposed:

The bill is in the House Finance Committee, which will make its recommendation on costs on May 24th.

Members of the public may present testimony in person, or by letter or email on any issue. To view video of legislative debate and action, or for a listing of bills, public hearing schedules, contact information for legislators, and specific roll call votes, visit NH.gov.